The blue light inside the MBG Lunchbox refused to fade.
It pulsed softly among the thirty glowing rice grains, like a tiny heart that had only just begun to beat.
It gave off no heat. It wasn't wild or unstable.
Yet something about it felt strangely oppressive, causing the air around Arga and Sinta to tremble faintly.
Sinta immediately rose to her feet.
"Arga… don't touch it yet."
Too late.
The moment Arga's fingers drew near—
the blue light surged.
WHOOOOMMMM!
A wave of energy swept across the metal platform.
The wind froze.
The sound of the ocean vanished.
The countless eyes filling the sky disappeared, as though someone had switched them off.
The world turned white.
Arga dropped to his knees.
He was no longer on the ship.
He was no longer above the ocean.
He was kneeling on cracked, scorching black earth.
Ash filled the air.
The sky blazed red, as though the heavens themselves were burning.
He scrambled to his feet, gasping for breath.
"Sinta?"
There was no answer.
In the distance, mountains crumbled. The seas boiled. Forests burned beneath a rain of light falling from the sky.
And above it all—
something enormous moved through the atmosphere.
A cosmic creature.
But it wasn't the Cosmic Leviathan.
Its form was rougher. More feral. It looked like a monstrous fusion of bones, wings, and a ravenous void.
Its gaping maw swallowed the light from the sky itself.
Every time it roared—
the stone cities below crumbled.
Arga stared in horror.
"This is… the past."
Another voice answered from behind him.
"Yes."
Arga spun around.
Kai stood there.
But he was younger.
His hair was shorter. His face bore none of the exhaustion that thousands of years had carved into it. His golden eyes burned brightly, and he wore ancient armor engraved with the symbols of the Seven World Cores.
Arga took a step back.
"Kai?"
The younger Kai didn't look at him.
It was as though Arga didn't exist.
Kai's attention was fixed on the war unfolding before him.
The sky split apart beneath the attacks of the Ancient Guardians. The sea tore open. Mountains shifted. Colossal beings battled across the horizon.
Then, at the heart of the battlefield—
something rose from the Earth.
The ground cracked across thousands of kilometers.
The oceans surged into the sky.
Green-gold light pierced through the planet's crust.
Terra Ultima.
It was even larger than Arga had ever seen it.
Wilder.
Brighter.
Its body resembled a living planet consumed by rage. When its eyes opened, the entire battlefield fell silent for a heartbeat.
The first cosmic creature roared in defiance.
Then it attacked.
Their battle shattered continents.
The first collision split mountain ranges apart.
The second made entire oceans evaporate.
The third extinguished half the sky.
Arga could barely breathe as he watched the destruction unfold.
"The world… nearly died."
The voice came from everywhere at once.
It wasn't Kai.
It wasn't the enemy.
It was Terra Ultima.
Arga turned.
The colossal green-gold eyes gazed directly at him, reaching across thousands of years.
"I had to choose."
Terra Ultima's body began to open.
Seven streams of light emerged—the Seven World Cores.
Each carried a different resonance, spreading across the devastated planet.
They raced toward distant regions of the world, stabilizing the land that had been torn apart by the battle.
But as the lights dispersed, cracks began to spread across Terra Ultima's body.
Its radiance weakened.
The first cosmic creature laughed, its voice like meteors shattering against one another.
Then it descended, intent on devouring whatever remained of the world's core.
Young Kai raised a glowing sword.
Standing behind him was a white-haired woman with brilliant blue eyes.
Her armor was cracked, yet an immense aura radiated from her body. In her hands, she held a seal shaped like a ring of light.
Something about her made Arga uneasy.
There was something strangely familiar about her energy.
The woman looked at young Kai.
"We have only one chance."
Kai nodded.
His expression was filled with unwavering resolve.
Together, they ran toward the heart of Terra Ultima's light.
Behind them, the other Ancient Guardians held back the cosmic creature with their own bodies.
One by one, they fell.
The sky filled with fire and cries of despair.
The woman placed the seal against Terra Ultima's chest.
"Sleep… until the heir arrives."
Light exploded.
The entire world was swallowed in gold.
The first cosmic creature shrieked as an immense force dragged it away from the world's core.
Rifts in space snapped shut.
The war came to an end.
But as the light began to fade—
Arga saw something that turned his blood cold.
Young Kai stood behind the woman.
His sword was raised.
His face was covered in wounds… and tears.
The woman slowly turned around.
Shock crossed her face.
Then sorrow.
And then—
young Kai drove his sword into her back.
Arga screamed.
"NO!"
But his voice was swallowed by the explosion of light.
The woman fell into the depths of Terra Ultima's core as it began to close around her.
Before she disappeared—
she looked at Kai.
Not with hatred.
But with forgiveness.
The world turned white again.
Arga jolted awake on the ship's platform.
His breathing was ragged.
Sweat soaked his body.
Sinta gripped his shoulders.
"Arga! Look at me!"
The eyes had returned to the sky.
The ocean roared once more.
The MBG Lunchbox snapped shut on its own.
Its blue light went dark.
Arga stared toward the main ship.
Kai stood in the distance.
Silent.
Motionless.
As though he already knew what Arga had just witnessed.
Arga's hands trembled.
Because now he understood—
Kai's secret was more than the story of a man who had lived for thousands of years.
There had been bloodshed.
Someone had been lost.
And somewhere in the ruins of the ancient world—
a truth remained buried, waiting to be uncovered.